Uso do grau de preferência alimentar para a caracterizaç ão da alimentação de peixes na APA de São Pedro e Analândia

We studied feeding habits of four fish species in two watershed at APA - Área de Proteção Ambiental (Area of Environmental Protection) in São Pedro and Analândia, State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. Feeding Preference Degree (FPD) was used to demonstrate the importance of each food item for the species of both basins. Feeding habits of both species of lambari was variable. The allochtonous items such as insects, autochtonous items, and vegetal material were very important, characterizing omnivory. The bagre (Rhamdia quelen) fed mainly on insects at the Jacaré-pepira Basin and also on fishes at the Corumbataí basin. The cascudo Hypostomus strigaticeps ingested autochtonous vegetal material and sediments at both basins.

Pelvimetria em macacos-da-noite (Aotus azarai infulatus - KUHL, 1820)

Related data to the diameters of the pelvis from 72 Aotus azarai infulatus, owl monkeys, 42 adult males and 30 adult non-pregnant females, were obtained in vivo by ventrodorsal projection radiographic exams, correlated with sex, the measures of the body and their origin. The mean values of the body length (30.94 cm), tail length (35.63 cm), thoracic perimeter (18.97 cm), hip perimeter (17.11 cm) and the weight (0.96 Kg) were verified. The radiographic images were digitalized and measured, and the mean values were 1.41 cm for the superior biiliac diameter; 1.58 cm for the inferior biiliac diameter; 1.97 cm for the medium biiliac diameter; 2.64 cm for the right diagonal diameter; 2.66 cm for the left diagonal diameter; 2.48 cm for the sacrum-pubic diameter; 3.85 cm 2 for the inlet pelvic area. In conclusion, the pelvis from males and females Aotus azarai infulatus can be classified as dolicopelvic and there is pelvic sexual dimorphism in adult owl monkeys (Aotus azarai infulatus).

Global optimization for the ℋ∞-norm model reduction problem

A branch and bound algorithm is proposed to solve the [image omitted]-norm model reduction problem for continuous and discrete-time linear systems, with convergence to the global optimum in a finite time. The lower and upper bounds in the optimization procedure are described by linear matrix inequalities (LMI). Also proposed are two methods with which to reduce the convergence time of the branch and bound algorithm: the first one uses the Hankel singular values as a sufficient condition to stop the algorithm, providing to the method a fast convergence to the global optimum. The second one assumes that the reduced model is in the controllable or observable canonical form. The [image omitted]-norm of the error between the original model and the reduced model is considered. Examples illustrate the application of the proposed method.

Structural control of photoluminescence of four poly(urethane-urea-co-1,3,5-triazine)s: Synthesis and characterization

A series of segmented poly(urethane-urea)s containing 1,3,5 triazine in the hard block and hexamethylene spacers in the soft block was prepared. The hard to soft segment ratio was varied systematically, to afford a series of polymers in which the chromophore concentration varied from 4.2% to 18.1%. Although triazine emission is located in the UV region, the films with higher content of the chromophore emitted a visible blue light (425 nm) when excited at the very red-edge of the absorption band. The photophysical properties of the materials were strongly dependent on the relative amount of triazine moieties along the main chain. Isolated moieties emit in copolymers with small amount of triazine groups, indicating that even though in solid state, these moieties tend to be apart. Two photophysical consequences were observed when the amount of triazine increases: there is some energy transfer process involving isolated moieties with consequent decrease of the lifetime and an additional red-edge emission attributed to aggregated lumophores. The mono-exponential decay observed for the isolated form is substituted by a bi-exponential decay of the aggregated species. The materials were not strong emitters, but since the N-containing triazine moieties are good electron transport groups, the polymers have potential application as electron transport enhancers in various applications. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Discrete wavelet transform signal analyzer

This paper addresses the problem of processing biological data, such as cardiac beats in the audio and ultrasonic range, and on calculating wavelet coefficients in real time, with the processor clock running at a frequency of present application-specified integrated circuits and field programmable gate array. The parallel filter architecture for discrete wavelet transform (DWT) has been improved, calculating the wavelet coefficients in real time with hardware reduced up to 60%. The new architecture, which also processes inverse DWT, is implemented with the Radix-2 or the Booth-Wallace constant multipliers. One integrated circuit signal analyzer in the ultrasonic range, including series memory register banks, is presented. © 2007 IEEE.

Biochemical and hematological study of goats envenomed with natural and 60Co-irradiated bothropic venom

Venoms from snakes of the Bothrops genus are proteolytic, coagulant, hemorrhagic and nephrotoxic, causing edema, necrosis, hemorrhage and intense pain at the bite site, besides systemic alterations. Many adjuvants have been added to the venom used in the sensitization of antiserum-producer animals to increase antigenic induction and reduce the envenomation pathological effects. Gamma radiation from 60Co has been used as an attenuating agent of the venoms toxic properties. The main objective was to study, comparatively, clinical and laboratory aspects of goats inoculated with bothropic (Bothrops jararaca) venom, natural and irradiated from a 60Co source. Twelve goats were divided into two groups of six animals: GINV, inoculated with 0.5mg/kg of natural venom; and GIIV, inoculated with 0.5mg/kg of irradiated venom. Blood samples were collected immediately before and one, two, seven, and thirty days after venom injection. Local lesions were daily evaluated. The following exams were carried out: blood tests; biochemical tests of urea, creatinine, creatine kinase (CK), aspartate amino-transferase (AST) and alanine amino-transferase (ALT); clotting time; platelets count; and total serum immunoglobulin measurement. In the conditions of the present experiment, irradiated venom was less aggressive and more immunogenic than natural venom.

Suicide nucleophilic attack: Reactions of benzohydroxamate anion with bis(2,4-dinitrophenyl) phosphate

(Chemical Equation Presented) The reaction between the benzohydroxamate anion (BHO-) and bis(2,4-dinitrophenyl)phosphate (BDNPP) has been examined kinetically, and the products were characterized by mass and NMR spectroscopy. The nucleophilic attack of BHO- follows two reaction paths: (i) at phosphorus, giving an unstable intermediate that undergoes a Lossen rearrangement to phenyl isocyanate, aniline, diphenylurea, and O-phenylcarbamyl benzohydroxamate; and (ii) on the aromatic carbon, giving an intermediate that was detected but slowly decomposes to aniline and 2,4-dinitrophenol. Thus, the benzohydroxamate anion can be considered a self-destructive molecular scissor since it reacts and loses its nucleophilic ability. © 2009 American Chemical Society.

Anticorpos anti-Leptospira spp. em animais selvagens do zoológico municipal de Ribeirão Preto, Estado de São Paulo, Brasil

Leptospirosis may affect all domestic and wild animals as well as human beings. Some serological studies have shown the involvement of wild species in the epidemiology of the disease. Once captive wild animals are not much studied, especially in Brazil, the present study aimed to detect anti- Leptospira spp. antibodies in animals from Ribeirão Preto city zoo, in São Paulo state, Brazil. Blood samples were collected from captive birds, fish, reptiles and mammals, sinanthropics and free-living animals and also from employees between March and October, 2006. Four hundred and three blood samples were obtained, 388 animals' samples (110 reptiles, 143 birds, 110 mammals and 25 fish) and 15 humans'. The sera were analysed by Microscopic Agglutination Test using 22 serovars from pathological leptospiras and two from non-pathological serovars. Among the animal samples, 339 were from captive animals, and 49 from free-living ones, captured with traps inside the zoo. One hundred and three (103/388 = 26.5%) samples reacted to leptospirosis, ninety-two (92/339 = 27.1%) samples were from captive animals and eleven (11/49 = 22.4%) from free-living ones. All humans' samples were negative. Serological titles varied from 40 to 5.120, with predominance of titles between 40 and 80 and the most frequent serovars were Patoc, Andamana, Canicola, Icterohaemorrhagiae and Panama.

The use of current transformers for noise detection due to sparking in insulators strings in high voltage transmission lines

In a general way, in an electric power utility the current transformers (CT) are used to measurement and protection of transmission lines (TL) 1 The Power Line Carriers systems (PLC) are used for communication between electrical substations and transmission line protection. However, with the increasing use of optical fiber to communication (due mainly to its high data transmission rate and low signal-noise relation) this application loses potentiality. Therefore, other functions must be defined to equipments that are still in using, one of them is detecting faults (short-circuits) and transmission lines insulator strings damages 2. The purpose of this paper is to verify the possibility of using the path to the ground offered by the CTs instead of capacitive couplings / capacitive potential transformers to detect damaged insulators, since the current transformers are always present in all transmission lines (TL's) bays. To this a comparison between this new proposal and the PLC previous proposed system 2 is shown, evaluating the economical and technical points of view. ©2010 IEEE.

Comparative analysis of current and voltage-controlled photovoltaic Maximum Power Point tracking

Maximum Power Point tracking (MPPT) in photovoltaic (PV) systems may be achieved by controlling either the voltage or current of the PV device. There is no consensus in the technical literature about how is the best choice. This paper provides a comparative analysis performance among current and voltage control using two different MPPT strategies: the perturb and observe (P&O) and the incremental conductance techniques. © 2011 IEEE.

Planilha eletrônica para auxilio à tomada de decisão em manejo de irrigação

The irrigation scheduling is basically the adoption of pre-established criteria to define the time and the amount of water to be applied through irrigation systems. Hence, the objective of this work was to develop and test a spreadsheet of easy comprehension, handling and interpretation by growers, which uses as inputs the physical-hydric soil attributes and tensiometer readings to the determination of irrigation depth and time. The spreadsheet enables the grower to make reading and to know in a fast way how much water to apply into the soil. The test of the spreadsheet was performed in an irrigated orchard of grapevines in Petrolina, State of Pernambuco, Brazil. Soil water retention curves and tensiometer readings from the effective rooting depth were used as a basis for obtaining the soil water matric potential, soil water content, water availability, soil water content to be replaced, net and gross irrigation depth and irrigation time. The analysis of the use of the irrigation scheduling spreadsheet resulted in a shorter time for irrigation in relation to the irrigation scheduling based only on the crop evapotranspiration. The spreadsheet can be helpful to growers adjust irrigation depth when irrigation scheduling is based only on crop evapotranspiration.

Composição química e digestibilidade in vitro da massa seca de cana-de-açúcar acrescida de ureia em diferentes tempos de estocagem

The objective of this research was to evaluate the chemical composition and in vitro dry mass (DM) digestibility of sugar cane with urea, maintained in the shade and sun, at different storage times. The utilized design was the completely randomized in a factorial scheme 6x2, that is, six storage times after the mixing (0; 2; 4; 6; 12 and 24 hours) and two storage location (shade and sun), with three replicates. The sugarcane utilized presented 12 months of development and was disintegrated for application of mixture (nine parts of urea for one of ammonium sulfate) to 1.0kg/100.0kg of fresh sugarcane. The samples taken with 12 hours of storage indicated that was an increase in the content of DM and crude protein (CP) of sugar cane compared to the moment of the mixture (307.6 vs. 294.2g/kg of DM and 115.2 vs. 99.3 g/kg of DM, respectively), and the smaller content of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was observed around of 12 hours of storage (465.0g/kg of DM). The coefficients of in vitro dry mass digestibility (IVDMD) ranged of 0.558 to 0.612 in the times 0 and 12 hours, respectively. The length of storage changes the chemical composition of sugar cane plus urea. The storage location changes the dry mass content and pH values.

Ammonia volatilization losses from surface-applied urea with urease and nitrification inhibitors

Urease inhibitor (UI) and nitrification inhibitor (NI) have the potential to improve N-use efficiency of applied urea and minimize N losses via gaseous emissions of ammonia (NH 3) to the atmosphere and nitrate (NO3-) leaching into surface and ground water bodies. There is a growing interest in the formulations of coating chemical fertilizers with both UI and NI. However, limited information is available on the combined use of UI and NI applied with urea fertilizer. Therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of treating urea with both UI and NI to minimize NH 3 volatilization. Two experiments were set up in volatilization chambers under controlled conditions to examine this process. In the first experiment, UR was treated with the urease inhibitor NBPT [N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric acid triamide] at a rate of 1060 mg kg -1 urea and/or with the nitrification inhibitor DCD (dicyandiamide) at rates equivalent to 5 or 10% of the urea N. A randomized experimental design with five treatments and five replicates was used: 1) UR, 2) UR + NBPT, 3) UR + DCD 10%, 4) UR + NBPT + DCD 5%, and 5) UR + NBPT + DCD 10%. The fertilizer treatments were applied to the surface of an acidic Red Latosol soil moistened to 60% of the maximum water retention and placed inside volatilization chambers. Controls chambers were added to allow for NH 3 volatilized from unfertilized soil or contained in the air that swept over the soil surface. The second experiment had an additional treatment with surface-applied DCD. The chambers were glass vessels (1.5 L) fit with air inlet and outlet tubings to allow air to pass over the soil. Ammonia volatilized was swept and carried to a flask containing a boric acid solution to trap the gas and then measured daily by titration with a standardized H 2SO 4 solution. Continuous measurements were recorded for 19 and 23 days for the first and second experiment, respectively. The soil samples were then analyzed for UR-, NH4+-, and NO3--N. Losses of NH 3 by volatilization with unamended UR ranged from 28 to 37% of the applied N, with peak of losses observed the third day after fertilization. NBPT delayed the peak of NH 3 losses due to urease inhibition and reduced NH 3 volatilization between 54 and 78% when compared with untreated UR. Up to 10 days after the fertilizer application, NH 3 losses had not been affected by DCD in the UR or the UR + NBPT treatments; thereafter, NH 3 volatilization tended to decrease, but not when DCD was present. As a consequence, the addition of DCD caused a 5-16% increase in NH 3 volatilization losses of the fertilizer N applied as UR from both the UR and the UR + NBPT treatments. Because the effectiveness of NBPT to inhibit soil urease activity was strong only in the first week, it could be concluded that DCD did not affect the action of NBPT but rather, enhanced volatilization losses by maintaining higher soil NH4+ concentration and pH for a longer time. Depending on the combination of factors influencing NH 3 volatilization, DCD could even offset the beneficial effect of NBPT in reducing NH 3 volatilization losses. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Occurrence of sensitivity during at-home and in-office tooth bleaching therapies with or without use of light sources

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of tooth bleaching with 10% carbamide peroxide (CP) or 35% hydrogen peroxide (HP), with or without quartz-tungsten-halogen light or hybrid source LED/infrared laser exposition on the occurrence duration, intensity and location of tooth sensitivity Forty patients were selected and randomly divided into four groups: GI--home bleaching with CP for 4 hours a day, over the course of 3 weeks; GII--three sessions of HP with three 10-minute applications at each session and no light source; GIII--the same procedure as GII with quartz-tungsten-halogen light irradiation; GIV--the same procedure as GII with LED/laser light irradiation. The evaluation included an appointment with each patient before and after each HP bleaching session or each weekly CP bleaching and 7, 30 and 180 days after the end of treatment. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed that the duration and intensity of post-treatment sensitivity were significantly higher for HP than for CP (p< 0.05), and symptoms were located predominantly in anterior teeth. All bleaching methods generated sensitivity, which was more frequent in anterior teeth. However, treatment with CP generated lower sensitivity than treatment with HP independently of the light sources.